SynBio Startup Launchpad

I'm extremely excited for this, it has been a long time coming and I deeply hope they succeed. They have some really good people attached to this project and it looks like they have the support needed to carry a product from start to finish. They also have good looking product requirements. (The 'no regulatory hurdles' is extremely important)

Unfortunately, looking at their 'example projects' they are all the kind of things academics would write grants on or fund. They all involve either 'outreachy' things, like making DNA art or doing personal data mining on genomes or 'basic science' things like improving read write speeds. The problem is, academia already handles these things well,and real progress in any of these areas would be extremely difficult. What they really need to be funding is people who have an idea of a biotechnology product. Also, it looks like they really need to work to build a community or people would be interested in this sort of thing. The DIY bio community, such that it exists, is scattered and fragmented at best. There is no place like proggit or HN for biotech news and discussion. Most of the people who would be available and interested in submitting a product (post docs and graduating grads in biochemistry, genetics, and biotechnology) will almost certainly not hear about this dues to this scattering.

I think it's a good idea with some good biologists backing it, they just need to get a bit better on the business/social side.